Time and again, we get floored when we see an amazing image. And we ask ourselves numerous questions about it. I guess millions of people have been doing that for more than a century now. Things don't change that much now that the digital era has arrived. But really, is that true though? 

In the past ten years, more people have been purchasing digital cameras than they ever did in twenty years during the film age but that doesn't mean that the art form has remained the same. Unlike ever before we're facing issues that the digital medium has introduced that we hadn't seen and whether or not these are particularly beneficial to the advancement of the pure art form is open to conjecture. Different websites will probably provide their own views and no one removes that entitlement from them.

I've never seen in my active time during the film era anyone who purchases a camera by demanding to see enlargement prints with a magnifying glass. I've never seen anyone deciding to buy a camera on the basis that he purely uses Agfa film over, say, Fujichrome or whatever. I've never seen anyone making a decision based on every single numbered spec he can find.

The art of functional design in a camera is no less important than the purity of intent in the photographic form where an image is communicable with the viewer. When we see a captivating image, it compels us to be drawn into it. We look at the mastery of light, the framing of the subject, the spontaneity of the moment frozen in time or the play of colours, texture or patterns. But we've never had to ask how many megapixels it was shot with. We didn't have to know the brand of the camera or how costly the lens was. A great image is a great image even if it were taken with the Olympus Trip 35.

Real photographers talk emotively about their photography, about the chances they took or the risks they encountered. They also muse about ideas they have and whether or not they would work. And they go in search of those opportunities that might otherwise elude mere mortals who sleep and wake up at the wrong hour! 

None of these are about the sensor or if the memory card's write speed was fast enough. You'd soon know if a person is just a gadget freak who collects equipment or someone who thinks with a camera in his head. There IS a difference. And the difference is compellingly defined as a relationship between the image and the viewer.

Welcome to Zone-10. Hi, my name is Khen Lim and Zone-10 is a labour of passion that Ken Norton and I share in propagating photography to the world and we hope to do it differently than most others. While we're working photographers, we're also deeply passionate about everything that involves photography. Therefore over a period of initial development, hopefully you will see our site grow a little bit more over time. We'll add sections that you might find interesting because we'll cover areas that you'd often have to spend days looking for across the whole Web.

Zone-10 isn't just a website. We're a business. We run a resource foundry for photographers and we have an operation that covers internationally where we're looking for young up-and-coming talented photographers who want to be noticed. Of particular interest to us is our desire to promote women photographers. It's an especially important part of Zone-10 to open up the field of photography more widely than ever before.

By the time we go live, you should see Zone-10 - endearingly called ZX by us folks - filled with some areas of interest. We'll have some resources to build on and an Open Gallery that is an invitation for you to register as a member and make use of. Materials of help to advance your photography will be coming soon and so will articles that probe your involvement. To support our community of users, you'll find our Discussion Forums readily prepped to get you started.  

In fact there's a whole lot more to Zone-10 than we can write here. So let's just say we appreciate and welcome you here for the first time. Stay with us as we slowly but gradually take the site up to a level we're happier with. If you find some sections where the links lead you nowhere, we apologise because these are works in progress. Soon they'll be happening!  

Glad you'd made it here.

Khen Lim & Ken Norton

Zone-10 LLC